335 FACULTY
IN THE HONORS PROGRAM
GPC faculty members teaching in the Honors Program are teachers who are fully committed to the Honors Program and its goals and able to provide intellectual leadership to students in the Honors Program. The Honors Program provides a laboratory where its faculty can try innovative pedagogical strategies and initiatives that may serve as prototypes for educational practices that may have college-wide implications in the future.
Faculty members enjoy the following responsibilities and privileges:
Faculty members are integral to the success of the Honors Program. The Honors Program offers opportunities for professional development and travel that are connected to Honors pedagogy and the advancement of Honors education and service.
Selection Process for Faculty Teaching
Honors Courses
The selection process recognizes the importance of continuity and experience in teaching Honors courses as well as the importance of promoting broad faculty participation by periodically rotating these assignments or having faculty new to Honors teaching courses.
Faculty members who are interested in teaching an Honors course should contact their Campus Honors Coordinator, who will communicate this information to the Honors Director and the appropriate Department Chair and Deans. This statement of interest should be timely because the schedule for Honors classes is often constructed well in advance.
Honors course offerings are necessarily limited in number. Faculty members should recognize and understand that no entitlement exists to teach in the Honors Program, nor is there a guarantee that a scheduled course will make enrollment despite the best efforts of Honors administrators to achieve enrollment goals.
The decision about which Honors courses will be offered every term is determined through discussions led by the Honors Director with the Campus Honors Coordinators and the appropriate Department Chairs and Deans. This same group will be involved in reaching agreement about and assigning the faculty members for Honors courses.
Various factors will be considered in determining who will teach Honors courses. Of considerable importance will be identifying faculty members who are fully committed to the Honors Program and its goals and are able to provide intellectual leadership to students in Honors and who contribute to and nurture the sense of collegiality and community that is essential to Honors education.
Other factors may include but are not limited to the following: the distribution and number of Honors course offerings at particular campuses and across the college, student input, student evaluations, student recommendations, Honors-specific student evaluations, syllabi, other course materials, rank and tenure, full-time or part-time status, recommendations by chairs or deans, discussion, pedagogical preferences and styles, classroom visitations, scholarly productivity, participation in Honors events and workshops, and professional activity.
Faculty teaching
Honors courses must commit to using the Honors-specific evaluation instrument
or questions as well as
Approved by the
PAB 5/27/08